AN: This has a bit more Norse mythos involved in it, message me if there are any confusions, but if you can hold out for later chapters it will all be explored through bedtime stories with a specific Viking vampire. ; )
Disclaimer: All of the characters that are in the Southern Vampire Mysteries Series belong to Charlaine Harris, all of the Divine beings are of my own interpretation.
Chapter 11
A moment later, not one but two figures appeared in the doorway. Sookie gaped at the woman, the most beautiful – no, Sookie amended, looking at Freyja, the second most beautiful – woman she had ever seen. They looked as if they could be sisters. Behind this woman, barely noticeable, outshined as he was by the beauty that radiated from her, stood a man, taller than Eric, who looked to be about Freyja's age with dark, rakish, looks.
"Mom, are you done yet in this world? Your work and direction are needed at home!" The woman said in a way that would have been a whine in any voice less beautiful. Sookie couldn't see this pair as mother and daughter; they both looked to be around her own age.
"Hnoss, I've told you, taught you, and allowed you to take power. You are definitely old enough now to make decisions."
"But Mom…" Sookie dragged her ways from this family drama to look at Eric who was on his knees in a subservient bow. This confirmed Sookie's suspicions that the women were more than human, Fae, or any other Supe species she has ever encountered. "I understand the human is Gersemi's great-granddaughter, but she knows nothing of us, and obviously doesn't want to. Mom, she's a Christian!" The last word uttered as if it were a swear, but Sookie's attention was grabbed by the fact that the 'human is Gersemi's great-granddaughter.' It played over and over in her head as she looked to Freyja.
"Wait… According to the myth that Eric told me yesterday, Gersemi is a daughter of Freyja. Are you telling me…?"Freyja sent an appraising, complementary, glance towards Eric, and she could feel his pride suffuse through the bond.
"Yes, dear, I am your… hmmm…. I am your great-great-grandmother. Eric knows the tale of your grandmother's, Adele's, birth, and he can explain it as my daughter is clearly unable to care for herself. I will be around, but for now, it seems I must go."
"Wait! Wait… my Gran was normal. She definitely didn't look like you! And she only lived into her eighties!"
"She was much much more than normal, Sookie. Surely you've grasped that by now. You've seen and interacted with Fae, how many of them would deign to look twice at an ordinary human, much less share a bed and come back for seconds? As for her appearance, surely you've seen pictures of her in her youth? She looked very much like me, and like you. Her lifespan would have been longer, had it not been cut short. And, unfortunately, as the Supes were not quite out at the time, there was nothing we could do but keep her safe by masking her extended mortality in superficial age. She outlived her husband and both of her children, you never questioned that?" Sookie took a minute to acknowledge that she had, but never thought, or wanted to think of, looking deeper.
"Okay. I see what you're saying. The signs were there, but I never saw them. Is being your kin one of the reasons I am so often in demand by Supes?"
"I understand you have many questions, we'll have to take another day to sit and discuss it all. To answer your current question, I don't know. I haven't been watching you long enough. I must go now."
"Wait! One last thing, who is that?" With this, Sookie motioned to the man in the doorway who had come in with Hnoss. Upon being acknowledged, he swept forward, encompassing the room in a showman's bow, and kissed the inside of her wrist, sending shivers up her spine.
"I, my dear, am Loki. I am the god of change. It is my pleasure to make the acquaintance of someone so refreshingly bright and charming as you." Eric muttered something clearly jealously hostile under his breath, which only caused Loki's smile to brighten. Freyja decided to interrupt.
"You never stop do you? When were you let off the rock anyway?"
"When your lovely daughter decided she needed an escort to accompany her to rescue her mother."
"Ah." At that, Freyja grabbed the rakish god by the ear, scolding him much like a mother, sliding into Old Norse as she did so, expressing her frustration at him for having brought Hnoss to this realm. Eric gathered that her anger was based on her concern for her daughter, and great-great-granddaughter, because of what had happened to Gersemi. Sookie watched the display with a bit of amused confusion. Loki, apologized, still in Old Norse.
"I was with her at all times, you know I wouldn't have allowed any harm to come to her," Loki said, soothingly. Sookie could see from the display, that Loki did indeed have the charm to seduce nearly anyone. Freyja, being the goddess of sexual relations, wasn't amused.
"We will discuss this when we return to Aesir," She said, switching into English again. "Good bye, my dear, I'll see you soon." Freyja addressed Sookie, and planted a light kiss on her forehead before parting. Eric watched the display of affection with interest, but decided to store it away for discussion later. Freyja turned to Eric, "You have done well in the protection of her, minn dýrr, and have done me proud. Please, stand, I give you this for when you are ready." In Eric's hand appeared a ring, one inscribed on the inside a chariot led by great cats, and one the outside bore a stone of amber, similar to the one that laid about the Lady's neck in the Brísingamen. He looked up, Sookie surprised by the strength of his gratitude mirrored the action, but they met each other's eyes, alone in the cabin.
"I suppose it's time for us to return home. I'll tell you what I can when we get there," Eric said wearily. He was wary of the possibility of her mood turning against him, and of what he should say. She looked at him, her blue eyes fathomless in their depths.
"You saved me. I called you and you came." Sookie was walking forward as she said this, and, on the last word, she collapsed in his arms. "I am truly sorry I doubted you. I do love you."
"As I love you, minn dýrr."
"Take me to bed, husband?" Sookie's request startled him, the desire was one she'd voiced before, and he'd felt through the blood bond as she sat on his lap, but she had never called him husband. He looked away, choking back his emotion, as it got caught in his throat. He took off into the air with the distinct feeling that things were going to be different tonight.